


Realistically

by Naddy



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Accents, Canon Compliant, Dates, Dating, Dinner, Flirting, Gen, London Road, M/M, Mimicry, Music, New Relationship, Oneshot, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 23:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4078594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naddy/pseuds/Naddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur isn't sure what to make of Eames musically practicing an accent for a forge.</p><p>(Inspired by the clip of Tom Hardy singing in London Road. )</p>
            </blockquote>





	Realistically

With the other three out to pick up lunch, Arthur was left alone with Eames in the cavernous belly of their warehouse office. They were both working quietly, Arthur on the speculation and further research of their mark’s security, while Eames scribbled messy notes on a white board about the man he would be forging. A strange sound, alien but not unpleasant, drifted across the open space, over the lawn chairs and ratty sofas, and Arthur looked up sharply, pen pausing on the paper.

  


“Eames,” Arthur blurted out, his work on hold, “Are you singing? In fucking _Cockney_?”

  


The other man turned around, song interrupted but grinning widely instead. Arthur just stared, perplexed and transfixed by what he had heard.

  


“Now don’ tell me y’ave a problem wiv the accen’.”

  


“I can’t understand the sounds coming out of your mouth. I’m assuming that you’ve somehow managed to destroy your own language and will shortly begin drinking coffee instead of tea.”

  


“Don’t go overboard, dear. Good ear for an American though, got the right accent. Cockney.” He nodded to Arthur.

  


“Why on Earth would that be the one accent you decide makes a good singing voice?”

  


“My forge grew up cockney, but trained the accent out of himself to sound a bit more proper and business-like after he left uni. It’s a hard accent to manage if you don’t grow up in it, but I learned it a few years ago and need to brush up. Now I can practice losing it again. And don’t give me that look. I find that singing in an accent is a great way to practice it. It’s harder than it looks, when the vowels are drawn out and you need to still sound natural.”

  


“I’m a little bit surprised actually. It sounded so natural.”

  


For a moment, Arthur saw himself transported, sliding into the back of a cab while the bells of Saint Mary le Bow tolled in the distance. Of course, the cabbie would be a rough but loveable sort, crooning softly from the front seat. He fantasized about seeing a plush, soft set of lips in the rearview mirror and watching them part, finding himself wrapped in the pitching, rolling cadence of the words. He could probably taste the accent on the cabbie’s teeth if he just leaned forward-

  


“That’s the goal.” Eames said, jarring Arthur back out of his day dream and into the ergonomic desk chair. He sauntered over to Arthur’s desk and hijacked a rolling chair along the way, straddling it when he got to Arthur’s desk. “It’s actually not the hardest accent I’ve done though. I had to do German that was French accented once, and that was a nightmare. I hate speaking French on its own or even doing the accent.” The forger made a dramatic, pouty face. “It’s all my good English breeding. My body rejects the French language on principle alone.”

  


“You are English and Irish,” Arthur responded dryly. “Several centuries worth of Englishmen would say that is the exact opposite of good breeding.”

  


“Well hasn’t someone been taking their British history course. Give me an accent then, go on. You can do whatever one you’d like, and I won’t even laugh.”

  


Arthur looked down quickly at his desk, feeling a bit of a blush blooming up the back of his neck, before he reminded himself that it was ridiculous to feel embarrassed and unsure of himself in front of Eames. He mumbled towards his stapler.

  


“What was that? Didn’t catch it.”

  


“I’m not very. I don’t. I do paperwork and research, I don’t mimic people.”

  


“Oh, come on now. Don’t tell me you never played pretend as a kid. I did. And I never stopped. Look where I am now, hmm? Running with the big boys and having loads of fun. Now let’s hear something, dear, I promise it won’t be that bad.”

  


This was stupid. What was he doing? With Eames looking at him like that he could barely think of an accent, let alone try and figure out how to contort his mouth into making the sounds. After a moment he swallowed and spit out the first line he could think of that was definitely an accent of some kind.

  


“Howdy, pardner. This town ain’t big enough fer the two of us.” Arthur braced for impact, expecting Eames’ laughter to hit at any minute after the cheesey western line, but nothing came, thankfully.

  


“Mmm. Very movie-esque. That’s another thing that can get tricky in forging you know, when people have imagined accents instead of true accents. I had to deal with that once, when we had to do a western theme in the dream, and our mark had this ridiculous pop culture idea of what cowboys sounded like. It killed me to learn a fake accent like that.

  


“That sounds very interesting actually. How did the job go?”

  


“Like any other job. I came out a little bit further ahead than I should have, avoided the prick of an extractor, and had a bit of fun while doing it. Not that I come out further ahead on jobs where you’re in control. No, you take the fun of that away.”

  


Arthur narrowed his eyes just a bit tighter at Eames, appraising what he said. Before he could think too hard, the forger reverted the subject.

  


“If you want to learn accents, just focus on the sound, the feel of the language. Don’t think so much about your mouth when you’re doing it unless you’re sure you know exactly where you need to be putting your tongue. I don’t even mean that the dirty way. There’s actually some really fascinating stuff about psychology and linguistics and accents and the way we pick up language.”

  


“Now that sounds even more interesting.” Arthur looked towards the stairwell, where he could hear the approaching sounds of three sets of footsteps. He turned back to Eames.

  


“Why don’t you tell me about it over dinner?”

  


“That’ll be the first time my mouth’s gotten me dinner that way.” Eames waggled his eyebrows as he scooted back towards his whiteboard.

  


_“Eames.”_

  
“Sorry, dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a short little one-shot inspired by the London Road clip where Tom Hardy sings about the likely traits of the killer. Hearing that speak-singing in the cockney accent was very nice for my ears, even if I could barely understand what the words were.
> 
> Drop me a comment if you enjoyed and would like to see more short stuff or if you have any ideas on improvements/how to tackle pieces like this/wanna tell me about your pets. 
> 
> Thank you, have a good start to your summers!


End file.
